Brassiere wire frame



March 7, 1961 R. F. ROWELL 2,973,763

BRASSIERE WIRE FRAME Filed Feb. 2'7, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 :1 Due/422w Ross f'fl-om/c/r Ao WEL L March 7, 1961 RowELL 2,973,763

BRASSIERE WIRE FRAME Filed Feb. 27, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zue/zZZfl Foss flew-maria wsu 2,973,763 BRASSIERE WIRE FRAME Ross Fredrick Rowell, 73s Marin, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed'Feb. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 713,076 4 Claims. cl, 128-476) sttaple'ssbrassieresi The invention relates to wire frames onsupports-foif Stats atent Asis well known, to'provide a means of supportin a strapless" brassiere, ar'cuate wire frames are utilized.

Thesewire'frames arefitted into pockets providedin thefront portion of the brassiere so that the weight of the bus 5 is supported and transmitted to themairl bodyencircliii'g" portion of"the br'assi'ere through the wires.

T Thewire frames used for this'purpose arelisually of' substantially U-shaped'formation, andare disposed within' the'bra'ssiere' so that the lower arcuate portion-of the 1 U' disposed beneath the b'rassiere cup with'the spaced apartle'gs of cup; A There" are several problems in the satisfactory manufacture ofthese strapless brassiere constructions utilizs'upporting wire frames, as described, one of which is that due to the pressure acting against the legs of the U wlieii'thegarm'ent is worn, the arcuate lower portion ispressed inwardly against the body of the wearer;

the" U disposed at each side of the brassiere In order to'overcome this problem, paddinghas been Patented Mar. 7, 1961 2. lessen the pressure acting against'thebody ofthe' wearer when the brassiere is in use, while providing'a controlled degree of supporting rigidity as is required.

It should be" mentioned that these wire supporting frames are normally made of resilient spring wire and formed in the desired U-shaped outline with'all portions parallel in the same plane. Therefore, aft'erpbeing inserted in the'brassie re the frames mustbe' stressed'initially so that the legs of the U-shap'e'd formation are bent inwardly relative to the central axis of the lower arcuate portion, so as to makethe frame conform to the contours of the body. This means-that a-certain amou'nt'of pressure is automatically applied to the centre of the lower arcuatesection of each wire support immediately the'brassiere is put on. Then, due to the additional tension or pressure applied to the legportions of the frames" by the weight of the busts, urging the outer ends away from the lower arcuate centre portion, which is disposed beneath the bust, this additional pressure is'transmitted to approximately the same point. It is the combination of these two pressures, one arising mainly from the resilient qualities of the frame itself and its subsequent inserted in the brassieresat this point and attempts have also beenmade to make the wires themselvesof various citiessectional shapes, so as to eliminate as much as possible this uncorrifortabl'e wire pressure.

A' further probler'his that in order to function properly the c'fbs's-section of the'wires mustbe sutlicient to provide the necessary flexible rigidity to withstand the weight of the varying sizes of busts. Using the terminology of the art, a wire frame used in an A' size brassiere cup should ideally be less rigid while affording the necessary support than the wire frame utilized in the" larger sizes C 'or .D. Theoretically the section of the wire should be'iin'c're ased as the frames become larger since they will be required to support more weight. ,However, this is not practicalin actual manufacture since these wire frames are a mass produced item and, therefore, are usually made from the same gauge, usually found sectioned, spring wife regardless .of their size.

verse.

This of' course leads to unsatisfactory resultssince it is obvious that a suitable gauge for a small frame will not give the reqh'ired support when made into a large frame and vice stressing to meet the contours of thebody of the wearer,

and secondly through its necessary further stressing in the supporting action,- Which causes the discomfort to the wearer.

tening or changing thesection of the usual round wire to A prior art attempt to overcome this problem is shown by'M. Schwartz, U.S. Patent 2,708,800, April 12, 1955,

wli'efeiii the section of. the wire has been altered from rdur'id torect'angulaf or flat to give the desired additional strength so that the samewire can be'used throughour the necessary range v 1 his arrangement does overcome the problem in part but it presents a further problem'in' that, as iswell known, the fiat 'section "se't'sl't he contour of the wire frame and when" the outer ends or legs are subject to deflectionya's mentioned abo'vqthe lower arcuate portion of the frame must necessarily distort. l l I The present invention recognizes these problems and aims to provide a supportingwire frame for strapless brassieres which is especially shaped to considerably a rectangular section at predetermined and proportionate lower sections of the wire frame. This gives the lower or arcuate portion of the frame the desired rigidity and leaves the legs, by. their round section, free to flex as required. With this arrangement the larger the frame, and consequently the greater weight it must support, the greater theproportion of flattened section giving the frame the required degree ofcontrolled stiffness or supporting rigidity. I

Otherwise, the action; with respect to supporting the upp r portion of the brassiere and consequently the Weight .of the' bust's, is the same as accomplished by'the prior art wireframes utilized, with the important difference that any pressure applied to the wearerfs body at" the centre'lower' arcuate point beneath each brassiere cup is created 'only from the outward stressing of; the supporting legs of the formation, and since the legs 'canflex without distortion to the centre arcuate point of the frame,

this pressureis, accordingly, considerably reduced.

7 ,Having thus generally described the nature of the invention, particular reference will be made to the accompanying drawings wherein there are shown by way of illustration typical supporting wire frames for strapless brassieres in accordance with the invention, and inwhich:

Figure 1 is a" view in front elevation.

' Figure 2 is a side View ofthe construction shown in figure 1 to illustratemore clearly the double curvature formation of the central lower arcuate portion and the flattened sect-ion giving the desired-supporting rigidity.

a Figure 44s a planview of the constructionshown in Figure 3 is a diagrammatic View inside-elevation and section of a strapless'brassiere construction embodying wire; frame su ports in accordance with the invention;

Figure 3 to illustrate more clearly the disposition of the pressure points through the present arrangement.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a wire frame constructed in accordance with the invention with the flexing action of the upper legs shown in dotted lines.

Figure 6 is a full front view of a typical wire frame constructed in accordance with the invention showing the change of section in the central arcuate portion as it would appear in a frame designed for use in a brassiere construction having A size cups.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the construction of Figure 6 along the section line 77 showing the typical round section of the wire (enlarged approximately 8 times) at the upper or leg portions.

Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of the construction of Figure 6 along the section line 8-8 showing the rectangular or flattened section applied to give a controlled degree of supporting rigidity (enlarged approximately 8 times).

Figure 9 is a view corresponding to Figure 6 showing a larger wire frame in accordance with the invention with a greater area of altered section as would suit a brassiere having B sized cups.

Figure 10 is a view corresponding to Figures 6 and 9 of a still larger wire frame with a correspondingly larger proportion of altered or flattened section as would suit brassiere constructions having C or D cups.

Figure 11 is a front view of a double Wire frame constructed in accordance with the invention.

With particular reference to Figures 1 and 2, a supporting frame for a strapless brassiere in accordance with the invention is shown as comprising a single piece of resilient wire which is shaped into a substantially U-shaped outline 10, with the lower or central arcuate portion 12 curved outwardly from the plane of the leg portions 14. The frame illustrated is tipped at the terminal end of each of the leg portions 14a, 1412 by a spherical ball or end fitting 16 so as to permit easy insertion into the garment structure. Since as is usual, there are two (2) supports or frames 10 required for each brassiere they are generally made as left and right hand with one leg 14a being longer than the other leg,

14b. The construction shown in Figure l is a left hand frame support'with the central section of the outwardly curved lower arcuate portion slightly offset towards the leg 14b relative to the centre line of the U-shaped formation.

While the general cross-section of the wire support shown is round, a lower arcuate portion 12a is flattened or changed in section to a substantially rectangular shape setting the arcuate formation and giving the frame a controlled degree of rigidity as will be described in more detail later.

As will be appreciated with reference to Figures 3 and 4, the leg portions 14a, 14b are curved outwardly slightly as indicated at E and the lower arcuate portion 12 curved outwardly as indicated atF. This double curvature of the wire frame, in accordance with the present invention, eliminates the necessity for the pre-stressing of the lower portion of supports of this nature when the garment is placed on the body of the wearer.

Normally, as previously mentioned, since the usual wire frame supports are flat or parallel in a single plane, they must first be pre-stressed about the lower arcuate portion to conform with the outline or curvature of the garment when placed on the body of the wearer. As will be appreciated, this pre-stressing, due to the resilient nature of the material used in articles of this nature, immediately creates pressure which is transmitted against the body of the wearer.

By contrast, the formation of the wire frame in accordance with the present invention, due to its outwardly curved centre portion, does not require any pre-stress'ing but is already shaped to fit the contours of the body. This, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, eliminates the first and usual pressure caused and applied at point G and also, by placing the leg portions of the support at an offset plane relative to the lower portion of the support, tends to reduce the pressure from point H being transmitted to the lower arcuate portion from the supporting leg portions disposed at each side of the brassiere cup. Further, as the lower arcuate center portion is deformed to a rectangular cross-section and preshaped to curve I outwardly the rectangular section is angled outwardly as indicated at point G in Figure 3, so as to present a flat side surface to the under contours of the bust.

This of itself presents a distinct advantage over the prior art wire frames commonly used for the purpose described.

It should also be mentioned that the wire frames 10 in addition to being made as left and right hand are also made in different sizes to suit varying brassiere cup proportions, usually designated as A, B, C, D. The variance in size of the frame 10 is accomplished by increasing or decreasing the curvature of the arc of the portion 12 so that the legs 14a and 14b are spaced further away from each other, in larger sizes, or closer to each other, in smaller sizes. Accordingly, it should be noted that the curvature of the portion 12 does not necessarily follow a true radial arc since at times it is flattened as it proceeds towards the leg 14b. The position of the leg 14a remains relatively constant as does the offset position of the apex of the arcuate portion 12 relative to the leg 14b. The difference in length between the legs' 14a, 14b is also varied. in order to suit some types of strapless brassieres they are made as being substantially of equal length but with the left and right hand forms being defined by the difference in the curvature of the arcuate lower portion 12v and the location of the apex of the offset central portion.

Referring to Fig. 11, there is shown an embodiment of a double-cup, continuous wire frame including two U-shaped portions 10 which are connected at 52. The portions 10' are similar in structure and function to the frame 10 previously described in detail.

As previously mentioned, while it is ideal, with respect to production manufacture, that all of these frames be made of a single gauge of wire having a round section, this presents disadvantages in that when the frames for the larger sizes are made of round sectional wire of a gauge suitable for the smaller sizes, they are too flexible with regard to spread and do not give the desired result.

As is shown most clearly in Figures 6, 9 and 10, the

I desired flexibility as provided by a light wire of round section can be maintained in all frame sizes while providing the desired degree of supporting rigidity in the larger sizes by flattening or changing the section of the arcuate portion 12 proportionately.

For example, as shown in Figure 6, a wire frame for a small or A size brassiere cup, the flattened portion 40'would be approximately of the total length and located as shown in Figure 6. A wire frame for a B size cup would have a flattened or altered section 42 of approximately /2 the length of the wire and located as shown in Figure 9. For the larger C and D sizes, the altered section 44 would be substantially or more of the length of the wire as shown in Figure 10, leaving the upper portions only of the legs 14a, 14b in their normal round section and free to flex under spreading load, as shown in Figure 5.

As an example, the normal gauge of spring steel wire used for this purpose is about .0625 which is flattened down or changed in section to a thickness of about .030". If, as is sometimes required in the larger D" sizes, a larger gauge wire is utilized this would be deformed in section in accordance with the invention in a proportionate amount. For example, the usual maximum gauge wire utilized for this purpose is about .080" and this would be deformed or flattened in the arcuate segment to about .040".

As will be appreciated by reference to the preceding description and accompanying drawings, the controlled change of wire section in accordance with the present invention permits the use of the lightest possible wire frames for all sizes of brassiere cups and that the degree of support required (rigidity factor) can be controlled proportionately to the Wire gauge used and size of frame by 'increasingor decreasing the flattened or altered section area of the frame. This in combination with the double curvature arcuate forming of the present wire frames provides distinct advantages over the prior art supporting frames at present available.

I claim:

1. A supporting frame adapted for use in strapless brassieres, comprising a single length of resilient wire shaped into substantially U-shaped formation, having a lower arcuate centre portion and leg portions extending upwardly from said lower centre portion, said lower arcuate centre portion including a surface disposed in angular relation to and extending outwardly from the general plane of said leg portions and forming an overall, unstressed, double curvate formation for substantially conforming to the contour of a wearers anatomy.

2. A supporting frame as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apex of said lower outwardly curved arcuate centre portion is located at one side of the central axis of said U-shaped formation.

3. A supporting frame as claimed in claim 1, wherein said leg portions are of a generally constant round crosssection and merge into said lower arcuate centre portion, said lower arcuate centre portion having a polygonal cross-section. 1

4. A supporting frame adapted for use in strapless brassieres comprising a continuous length of resilient wire of substantially U-shaped formation and having a lower arcuate centre portion and leg portions substantially coplanar and of a generally circular cross-section and extending upwardly from said centre portion, at least a segment of said lower arcuate centre portion including a flattened rectangular cross section in the plane of said U-shaped formation said arcuate centre portion including a surface extending outwardly from the plane of said leg portions and providing an unstressed double curvate 1 formation adapted to fit the contour of the body of the wearer of the brassiere.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,705,800 Schwartz Apr. 12, 1955 2,782,417 Magidson Feb. 26, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 786,827 France June 17, 1935 

